Climate & nature
We are committed to reducing emissions from our operations and from our value chain. The targets for these reductions have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative and are in line with the most ambitious pathway of the Paris Agreement.
And our ambitions are not just focused on the future. We are also working to reduce and remove the equivalent of our historical emissions from operations since our founding in 1941, through a 20-year partnership with WWF to protect and restore tropical forest areas.
We have also begun work to understand the impacts and dependencies of our business on nature to be able to support biodiversity on our sites and throughout our supply chain.
Our climate and nature targets
Sustainability is at the heart of our corporate strategy, and we have set ambitious targets across key sustainability areas. We have been working successfully to cut our carbon footprint since 2010 and in 2020 we launched ambitious climate commitments.
- By 2030, reduce emissions from own operations by 100% (scope 1&2)
- By 2030, 50% reduction of CO2e from value chain (scope 3)
- By 2041, 4.5 million tonnes of CO2 reduced and removed through forest and biodiversity projects equal of our company’s carbon emissions from 1941-2041
- By 2030, have improved biodiversity at VELUX Group sites and actively work with suppliers to reduce negative impact on biodiversity to protect and restore nature
- Build for Life by advocating for sustainable buildings and communities to leverage the green transitions and quality of life
Sections within this chapter
Transforming the industryDecarbonisationForest conservation projectsBiodiversityCircular businessPartnering the changeBy 2030, we aim to reduce our emissions from production and operations by 100% and from our value chain by 50% compared to 2020. To cut our operational emissions, we are transitioning to renewable energy and focusing on energy efficiency across all sites.
We continue to work towards reducing the embodied carbon footprint of our products. This includes the carbon emissions associated with the materials used, transport to VELUX, and the manufacturing process.
TRANSFORMING THE INDUSTRY
From windows to communities of the future
Buildings account for 37% of global CO2 emissions. With the Living Places concept, we showcase how it is possible to use technologies available today to build low-carbon homes with an optimal indoor climate in a scalable way.
The concept holds a three times lower carbon footprint than the Danish building regulations with only 3.85 kg CO2e/m2/y. The lifecycle calculation is third-party verified by the BUILD department at Aalborg University in Denmark.
We finance forest projects that reduce and remove CO2 equivalent to our historical CO2 emissions. The projects are designed and delivered by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Our twenty-year partnership will deliver a portfolio of forest projects in tropical forest landscapes with high biodiversity value that will create positive change for people, nature and climate.
The partnership aims to contribute the verified carbon reductions and removals generated by the forest projects to the host countries’ climate commitments. This means that the verified carbon reductions and removals will not be traded nor used for offsetting by the VELUX Group.
Photo: Martina Lippuner, WWF
Circular business
The transition to a circular economy is key to decarbonising the built environment and reducing the impacts associated with materials. We have begun integrating materials with an increased share of recycled content in our products and we are now taking the next step to integrate circularity further into product design and to develop a customer-centric approach to the circular economy.